


Shots Fired

by Metal_Chocobo



Category: Teen Beach Movie (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death, Dark, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-18 14:23:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8165060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metal_Chocobo/pseuds/Metal_Chocobo
Summary: They were lying in Lela’s bed half asleep when the shot sounded. Mack thought it was a car backfiring, but Lela had heard enough of both to know the difference.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lizzen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizzen/gifts).



> The recipient requested dark fic. Hopefully this will suffice.
> 
> Special thanks to [Somnolentblue](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Somnolentblue/pseuds/Somnolentblue) for betaing this fic. Despite not knowing the source material, Blue turned this fic into a much tighter and cohesive story.

They were lying in Lela’s bed half asleep when the shot sounded. Mack thought it was a car backfiring, but Lela had heard enough of both to know the difference.

She was out of bed in an instant, pulling on shorts and a shirt from the floor. Mack followed at a slower pace and had only just started down the stairs when Lela leapt off the last step. Normally, Lela would wait for her in the kitchen before racing out the back door, but impatient to see the damage, she bolted outside. She stopped on the back porch and scanned the narrow backyard looking for bullet holes. The screen door rattled when Mack stepped out to join her.

“Oh my god,” Mack said, clasping a hand over her mouth. “Is that…” she trailed off, but that was enough to focus Lela’s attention. 

“Butchy!” Lela screamed.

She ran toward him and then collapsed at his side on the withered crabgrass. Grabbing her brother’s shoulders, Lela shook him, trying to get a response, but all that happened was more blood oozed out of the holes across his chest. Lela whimpered and froze. Her eyes locked on the fresh crimson blood. It looked like he had been hit with a shotgun blast. Mack crouched down beside her, taking off her flannel shirt and pressing it to Butchy’s chest. Then, with her free hand, she pulled Lela’s hand off Butchy’s sleeve and pressed it into the shirt, before repeating the process with her other hand.

“Hold that,” Mack ordered. Lela nodded dumbly. She watched Mack whip out her phone and call 911. 

Mack sounded calm, in control, as she talked to the dispatcher. Lela was anything but. She felt so sick she didn’t know if she was going to throw up or pass out. Eventually she pressed her forehead into the damp flannel shirt. It wasn’t moving. That just made her feel worse.

The ambulance took almost twelve minutes to arrive. It only took half that time when they called one for Mack’s neighbor last year. Lela remembered Mack’s Aunt Antoinette raging about the unacceptable wait and bitterly wished for that response time now. If only Butchy had been shot in a gentrified neighborhood.

When the EMTs reached Butchy they immediately loaded him onto the ambulance. Nana was allowed to ride along, but Lela had to make her own way. Trying to unlock her car, Lela repeatedly dropped her keys because her hands kept shaking. The third time she did this she hit the door window twice in frustration and then leaned on the vehicle. Mack silently picked up the keys, unlocked the car, and ushered Lela into the passenger seat before driving them to the hospital.

He was declared dead on arrival.

Lela broke down in tears.

The police came after that. Lela knew she talked to them, but she didn’t remember what she said. In any case, it was clear they didn’t care about Butchy’s death; just another gangbanger killed in a drive-by shooting. Good riddance to bad rubbish. She doubted they’d bother investigating, even though Butchy had known enemies.

Mack kept her from going off on the cops, which wouldn’t have helped, and gave a concise statement about the events. Though, she was certainly frustrated when the portly detective old enough to be their father seemed far more interested in what they had been doing in Lela’s bed than in the shooting. When he continued pressing for details, grossly overstepping his bounds, Mack grabbed Lela’s hand and squeezed. Lela didn’t know if it was for support or to keep one of them from punching him.

After that, Mack took Lela home. They could have gone back to Mack’s place, since her grandfather, Big Poppa, would have done everything he could to comfort Lela, but that would have meant tangling with Mack’s aunt as well. As soon as she heard what happened to Butchy, Aunt Antoinette would declare that he deserved it and forbid Mack from seeing Lela because she was ‘too dangerous’ to associate with. Besides, Lela needed to be home for Nana now that she was all her grandmother had.

The crime techs were packing up when they returned. It had been less than two hours since they first left. Just another sign the forces of justice weren’t going to bother properly investigating Butchy’s death. Lela ignored the crime scene tape cordoning off her backyard and walked around the house to enter through the front. She and Mack put Nana to bed before heading to Lela’s room.

Lela sat on her bed while Mack hovered awkwardly by the door. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes as sparks of anger ignited in her belly. Her brother was dead, and no one was going to do a thing about it. The worst of it was she knew exactly who killed him. After all, who but a Surfer would shoot the head of the Rodents? Except for the ongoing territory dispute with the Surfers concerning Big Momma’s, Butchy hadn’t been involved in any beefs. So it had to be them. 

“They’re dead. They’re all dead!” Lela sobbed. “The Rodents aren’t going to stand for some punk-ass killing Butchy. There’s hell to pay, and I’m going to make certain every goddamn Surfer ponies up their due!”

“Shh, Lela, shh,” Mack said. She came to Lela’s side and wrapped her arms around her. “Don’t talk like that. Revenge is never the answer. If the Rodents retaliate, the Surfers will shoot back, and everyone’ll end up dead. The last thing Butchy would want is for you to end up dead as well.”

“But he’s my brother! I’ve got to avenge him!”

“All Butchy ever wanted to do was protect you.” Lela pressed her face into Mack’s shoulder as she listened to her. “Do you remember how proud and excited he was when you got your college acceptance letter? He was thrilled, not only because of your accomplishment, but because it also meant you were getting out of here. You were going to be safe at school with me.”

“But…”

“Don’t let go of the dream, Lela; it was Butchy’s dream for you as well. He wouldn’t want you joining the Rodents to shoot up a rival gang on his behalf. He wanted you out of the life and safe.”

Lela’s hands squeezed Mack’s tank top straps. She didn’t want to hear about Butchy’s hopes and dreams for her anymore. She didn’t want to be talked out of revenge. She didn’t want to listen to Mack, and most importantly, she wanted Mack to shut up. So she kissed her. Mack responded immediately to the kiss and then opened her mouth allowing Lela full access. She deepened the kiss while climbing into Mack’s lap. Lela’s hands ran across Mack’s chest and shoulders before she pushed her girlfriend down onto the bed so she could run a tongue along her neck. They stayed in that position kissing until Mack flipped them over.

“What do you want?” Mack asked.

“To forget today,” Lela whispered. Mack nodded and leaned down to resume their kiss.

They didn’t have sex that evening. Instead, when Lela finally tired enough to lie still Mack held her. She whispered sweet nothings into Lela’s ear while she ran her fingers through her hair. Lela never really forgot, but lying in Mack’s arms she felt as safe and as comfortable as she could. Eventually she fell asleep, but her dreams were full of blood and glazed eyes. 

By morning the rage had dulled into numbness, and she no longer felt a blistering urge for revenge. Lela would properly mourn her brother and then go to college in the fall, just as originally planned. Even without Butchy, she could still be happy with Mack. She’d stick to the plan.

Butchy’s funeral was a week after the shooting. Aunt Antoinette didn’t want Mack to attend, but she was legally an adult and ignored her. Lela was grateful she did that—she didn’t know how she would have made it through Butchy’s funeral without Mack. They sat in the front row with Nana, where Lela couldn’t get away from the sight of Butchy lying still in his coffin. In a suit with his hair combed over he didn’t look remotely like himself. It left Lela cringing away from him. Butchy was a messy blur of continuous motion, not a dolled-up immobile husk. That wasn’t her brother anymore. All of the Rodents showed up to pay respect to their fallen leader and passed the coffin in silent single file.

She tuned out the priest’s words and the traditional funeral rituals because they gave her no solace. Instead she found it leaning into Mack’s side. That was the real truth of death: comfort could only be found in the living. The heat and cloying stench of incense was so thick in the cathedral that it was a relief to relocate to the cemetery for Butchy’s burial. Most of Butchy’s biker gang declined to make the journey to the cemetery, but his closest friends, who were mostly his lieutenants, accompanied Lela, Mack, and Nana to his final send-off.

As the coffin lowered into the ground, Lela sought out Mack’s hand for support. When she glanced over, Mack gave her a small encouraging smile. To Lela’s surprise, it evoked a smile of her own. It hurt saying goodbye to him, but she knew she’d be okay as long as she had Mack. They’d persevere.

A car hurtled toward them at an utterly reckless speed for driving through a cemetery. Lela dropped to the ground before she even fully registered the blast of semi-automatic gunfire. The others, used to dealing with this sort of thing, found cover as well. Lela glared at the car full of teens in Surfer colors speeding away. Bad enough that they had killed Butchy, but shooting up his funeral could not stand. She felt a bitter joy knowing that Butchy’s lieutenants would avenge him for her. But that was their job, not hers.

Lela turned to check on Nana. She was badly shaken, but otherwise seemed uninjured. This was the best-case scenario for her, as Nana could have broken a hip when she fell. The shock of the drive-by might also have caused a heart attack or stroke. She was such a tiny fragile woman, and at her age any injury could prove fatal. Lela was so relieved she was uninjured; she couldn’t handle any more loss.

“Looks like everyone’s okay, Mack,” Lela said. When she didn’t answer, Lela turned, looking for her girlfriend. Mack lay on the ground, which summoned the worst case of déjà vu Lela had ever experienced. Lela grabbed her hands. “Mack!”

“Lela,” Mack groaned. Blood gushed from her lips as she spoke.

“Oh god. You’re… you’re gonna be okay,” Lela promised.

This time would be different. She didn’t freeze; instead she commanded emergency services with the most speed and authority she had ever mustered. Mack was still awake and responsive, but when she tried to speak more blood bubbled out of her mouth. Lela shushed her. She wanted to stanch the bleeding, but other than Mack’s mouth she couldn’t determine the source. There was so much blood everywhere. She kept flashing back to Butchy’s unseeing eyes, even though Mack still had life in hers.

However, that spark was fading fast when the sound of sirens finally reached Lela’s ears. Lela did her best to keep Mack awake, but she was unconscious by the time the EMTs loaded her onto the bus. This time Lela rode along, clutching Mack’s hand the whole way. Her pulse kept threading in and out, like there wasn’t enough blood left in her system to keep pumping.

Mack was rushed straight into surgery when they arrived at the hospital. Lela didn’t mind being left behind, not when every second counted for Mack’s survival. She couldn’t be the one to slow her down. Mack’s family dashed to the hospital as soon as they heard the news. Aunt Antoinette refused to even look at Lela as they sat in the waiting room.

They waited hours for Mack to get out of surgery. When the surgeon did finally come to them, he shook his head, and Lela didn’t hear anything else. It was like the world had been muted. She watched as Aunt Antoinette fell to her knees shrieking and Big Poppa sob without a sound. No one even looked at her. She left in the chaos.

When she got home, Lela headed straight for Butchy’s room instead of her own. She changed out of her bloodied funeral dress into his smallest set of leathers and took his keys. Most importantly, she took his gun. Blowing out of the house like a whirlwind, she hopped on Butchy’s bike and headed out to round up a posse.

Lela strode into the Rodents’ garage looking every bit her brother’s sister. The whole biker gang seemed to be there, turning the garage into a hive of activity as everyone talked and laughed as they worked on their vehicles. When the Rodents noticed her presence they froze to stare. One even dropped a muffler on his foot. Eventually Lugnut, Butchy’s right hand man, pushed his way to the front of the garage and cautiously approached as if she were a wild animal. She rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for pussyfooting around.

“Grab your guns, boys and girls,” Lela said. “We’re going to light up those Surfer assholes.”

“Lela, you should give me the keys to Butchy’s ride,” Lugnut said, holding out his hand. “We’ll take care of things, don’t you worry, but we don’t want you getting hurt taking on something you can’t handle. That wouldn’t be doing right by Butchy.”

Lela pulled out her gun and shoved it into Lugnut’s crotch. “The only ones getting hurt tonight are the ones who cross me. Now are you going to do what I want or do we have to change your name to Nonut?”

Lugnut tried to lean away from the weapon without looking like he was giving up any ground. After all, he seemed to think he was in charge of the Rodents now that Butchy was dead. Lela pushed the gun in harder and audibly clicked off the safety. Wetness spread across the front of Lugnut’s pants. He cleared his throat and addressed the rest of the gang. “Saddle up and move out. The Boss says we’re dealing with the Surfers for once and all.”

A noisy ruckus ensued. Gang members everywhere grabbed guns and leapt on their bikes. Lela soon found that an armed brigade had formed behind her. They were raring to go, held back only by her signal. She was ready to dish out justice, and this time there was no one who could talk her out of it. 

“Let’s go,” Lela said, revving her engine. Struts followed suit, triggering a chain reaction throughout the entire group. En masse they set off for Big Momma’s, the Surfers’ hangout.

“For Butchy!” Chee Chee shouted just before the motorcycles picked up speed.

“For Butchy!” the rest of the Rodents shouted, echoing her cheer.

Lela shouted as well, though she wasn’t really doing it for her brother. Not that she’d tell them, but this was all about Mack—just like everything else in her life. She glanced down at the gun in her belt. She couldn’t wait to use it. After they took her future, it was only fitting she take theirs. However, unlike the Surfers, Lela wouldn’t half-ass her solution. She planned on burning everything to the ground.


End file.
